Khushab District (Urdu: ضِلع خُوشاب‬‎) is a district in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, with its administrative capital in Jauharabad. The district is named after the historical city of Khushab located within its boundaries. According to the 1998 census, the population was 905,711 with 24.76% living in urban areas.[4] The district consists of four tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal, Quaidabad and Naushera.[5] Khushab is home to the Heavy Water and Natural Uranium Research Reactor,[6] part of the Pakistan's Special Weapons Program.[7]

Khushab consists of agricultural lowland plains, lakes, and hills. Parts of the Thal desert touch the district, which has a breadth of over 70 miles (110 km) and is situated between the Indus river and the Jhelum river.

There are three lakes (Ochali, Khabbaki and Jahlar) in the district. Kanhatti Garden is the largest forest in Khushab district, near Khabbaki village in the Soon Valley. Khabikki Lake is a salt-water lake in the southern Salt Range. The lake is one kilometre wide and two kilometres long. Khabikki is also the name of a neighbouring village. Sakesar is the highest mountain in the Salt Range,[11] and is the site of the ancient Amb Temples. Sakesar’s summit is 1522 metres / 4946 feet high and is situated in Khushab District.

Khushab has a total of 1,001 government schools out of which 38 percent (379 schools) are for girl students. The district has an enrollment of 148,728 in public sector schools.[12] It is ranked 38th among 145 districts of Pakistan in school education ranking by Alif Ailaan for 2016. [13]

Khushab got the status of district in 1982. At the start, the district was divided into two tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal. Later on Quaidabad was given the status of Tehsil in March 2007 [14] and Naushera (Vadi e Soon) became 4th Tehsil of District Khushab in March 2013. In local bodies delimitation 2000 (before to the creation of the Tehsil Quaidabad and Naushehra), it contained a total of fifty-one Union Councils.[15] In 2015 delimitation of District Khushab, 48 rural union councils and 7 urban Municipal Committees have been created by the election Commission of Pakistan.[16]